I'm over at http://green-dreams.dreamwidth.org/ , in case anyone was wondering.

Zero Summer identifies itself (quite honestly) as a wordy Western RPG. It's a free browser-based game, that uses (almost) the Fallen London engine. It's fairly grindy at times, which is usually really not my thing. I cope with it for the writing; I actually think that the amount of text helps me slow down and not click through it all so quickly.

Here's the thing: there are individual stories (as opposed to the repeatable mundane actions) which cannot be repeated. You play them once, you read them once, and then they are gone forever, unless you care to start over again with a new character. So when I run across a step in the story that reads in part (yes, in part; I did say it was wordy):

What does it say? It says: under clear skies and the fresh fingernail moon and the bright brilliant stars when the world was young there was the masterless Dog. And still he howls. His voice freezes the blood. His tongue is warm and wet. His pelt flea-bitten but strong and golden. His ears hung with carved wooden rings. His eyes too-human. His paw outreaches. A mark is left.

Suddenly Jim is on you, wrestling the book away and slamming it back onto the shelf where you found it. Real panic in his eyes. A high unexpected color.

"What did you see?" he says. Demands. "What did you see?"

Under a fingernail moon, there was a hound. Under the clear sky he reached out. Under his paw there came a mark. It itches and burns. It weighs on your heart.

...when I come across that I stop, and reread, because I know there are no save points, no rewinds, no YouTube captures, no wikis, no-one I can ask for an explanation. (Okay. Technically I could go poking around the Failbetter forums and see if anyone had theories, but it's not like sitting around a gaming table and troubling a Storyteller for clarification, you know?)

It's oddly lovely, and no less so for being so transient.

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ETA: Aaaaaaand I just got a message related to that specific storylet. I'll, uhm, be shivering gleefully, visiting the Scrublands, and dealing with the Jackal-Caller now. :D

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

By then serials were dying anyway, and of what use was a green suit with a long cape and wings on the sides of its cowl? In the real world, there was no room for Green Falcons.

Got to work this morning and I couldn't get "Night Calls the Green Falcon" out of my head. It's from Robert R. McCammon's Blue World collection, or at least that's where I first read it.
 

A shriek like the demons of hell singing Beastie Boys tunes came from the speakers.

So I went looking, and bless the man, he has the whole thing up on his website. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; it's written as a serial, it really suits being posted online.
 

"No, I haven't seen him for a while, but I know what his name was." He grinned, gapped-tooth. "John Smith. That's what all their names were." He glanced at the Green Falcon. "Can you breath inside that thing?"

It's about a man who used to play a hero in the old movie serials--you know the kind, right? Ten chapters to a story, dramatic cliffhangers, come back next week for the next thrilling episode in this dynamic mystery, "The Star and Question Mark"!
 

"Hey, amigo," the man said, and flame shot from the barrel of the small pistol he'd just drawn.

I mean... okay, it is not entirely surprising that I am a sap for stories about people trying to live up to the stories; ones about the power of stories to change the world. Galaxy Quest. Shakespeare in Love--not the romantic plot or subplot or whatever it was, but the sheer weight of the theatre, the "I don't know. It's a mystery." Hogfather, and the difference between the sun coming up and a giant ball of flaming gas illuminating the world.
 

He kept going to the stairs, burdened with age.

"‘Dear Davy,’" the voice rang out. "‘I am sorry I can't come to Center City this summer, but I'm working on a new mystery...’"

The Green Falcon stopped.

I'm not saying it's great art. It's a four-colour story, bright and simple and clear. It has a grim and bloody moment or two, but then of course it does; they always did.
 

Who was he? somebody asked. The Green Falcon? Did he used to be somebody? Yeah, a long time ago. I think I saw him on a rerun. He lives in Beverly Hills now, went into real estate and made about ten million bucks, but he still plays the Green Falcon on the side.

Oh, yeah, somebody else said. I heard that too.

I heard that too.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Proof that it's been a long busy week: I haven't mentioned this yet...

The latest issue of Innsmouth Magazine, available here for free (online or in PDF), and here for $2 (buyyyyyy ittttt... It's $2! When was the last time you got half a dozen good stories for $2?). Enjoy!

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

I confess, I quite missed the nuances of the Thor movie. But a blogger and historian has thoughtfully examined it, and provided an explanation for what might have initially seemed like an awkwardly written and presented story. For example:

The way Wayland the Smith went overboard designing these insane helmets was a great way of communicating his silent protest over being forced to build that ridiculous whopping robot thing.

It's so subtle! And a much more satisfying explanation--indeed, an explanation at all--for some of the costuming.

They also look into the Avengers movie, and its trenchant commentary on nerd culture and the envisioning of the future.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

The mercury (does anyone actually own a mercury thermometer?) is slowly creeping up from this morning, when it was -17°C (-26°C with the wind chill). Looking forward to Wednesday, when it's meant to get up to 11°C. Not - 11°C. 11°C. Okay, yes, that's the low of one day against the high of another, but that's still a 28 degree difference in two days, ignoring the damn wind.[1]

Oh, March. Aren't you just an interesting time, meteorologically speaking. And I cannot wait for the time when I no longer need to worry about my ereader freezing. Literally.

(Yes, yes, paper books don't freeze. However, the pages get blown around, they fare much less well in precipitation, and turning the pages takes longer, which at the temperature that causes my Kobo to freeze is actually a significant consideration because I do not want my fingers out in that cold. Also, Innsmouth Magazine.)

((Possibly this last could be remedied with knit gloves that had leather patches sewn over the fingerprints? Hmh.))
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[1] That's 1°F, -15°F, 52°F, and a 51 degree difference for those of you using Farenheit.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

It's February again, so a tiny Canadian micropress is gearing up for another year of extravagantly doing things like "buying cover art" and "paying authors" and "distributing free stories". So if you'd be interested in their books, or the latest or second-latest issue of their magazine[1], it'd be a good time to pick one up. (I am torn on which one to suggest, but I think I would say Historical Lovecraft if you had to pick just one.)

Also, if you happen to, er, own all their books and all the ebook copies of their magazine, you can just donate. There's a link on the main page and donating enters you into a draw for a prize.

On the strength of the magazine alone, which has been running for three years now and which makes me squeak happily and go buy a copy even though all the stories are free, I figured I'd skip a couple of fluffy coffees and send the money their way. They're worth it.
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[1] Available in formats for browsers, Kindles, Nooks, Apple iPad/iBooks, Sony Readers, Palm readers, and any word processing program at all ever for 99 cents (total, not each).

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

Echo Bazaar continues to amuse. Don't think there's anything spoilery in the text, but...

( Casually tossed nymphs. Of course.Collapse )

And I have me a Modish Bonnet, so I can stay there as long as I like.

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)

I am discovering, lately, that there are a whole lot of blogs I like to read. Not all of them have RSS feeds, and there are so many that my webcomic solution (enter links to all comics that update on $WEEKDAY into one folder, open all tabs in said folder on $WEEKDAY) wouldn't work, even leaving aside the fact that they don't all update on a regular schedule or the same schedule or....

How do you guys sort out your blog reading? Is there a really simple Firefox plugin I am missing, or something?

(This post has been crossposted from DreamWidth)